Re: [MOPO] How to Beat The Clock

[JR]

Phil and Claude,   So far, the responses to this idea both public and private are heavily in favor of the idea -- we did consider the issues the you of two raise, but ultimately came to the conclusion that extending the end time by a minute or two doesn't really prevent anyone from continuing to bid the way you do now -- i.e, you can still use a sniper program and don't have to stay up to any particular hour watching the auction close if you don't want to. So, you can continue to bid as you always have. Everything will work for you just as it has in the past. The only thing that would be different would be for someone who did want to actually follow the end of the auction live and bid or not according to the real, true last bid.   It seems to me this is better for the seller (who gets more money for the poster than he would have otherwise) and overall better for buyers too, I think, as it does give anyone who wants to actually watch the close a shot at getting the item --to see what the true "last bid" was and trump it if they want. You can't do this with the current ebay-style sniper situation. Often, on a desirable item, the final bid shown at the second the auction closes is NOT the winning bid -- I personally feel this is bad for business and psychologically bad for the bidding environment overall, creating a sense of futility among many bidders who either aren't as good at guessing what their final snipe bid should have been (or perhaps don't have the deep pockets to just bid "whatever", knowing that such an absurdly high sum will win out when all the snipes are in, no matter what).   See, with the sniping programs determining the winner behind the scenes as it is now, even if you really, really want the item, you can still only guess at what the amount of your final bid should be -- whether you use a sniper program or not -- you just have no way of knowing if it will be good enough. But with extended end-times, if you want to, you can actually see what your competition has bid at the end and then make a real-time decision to continue bidding or not based on you having ALL the information, not just guesses.   Also, since on MPB the bid history will always be public, you have some information that might help you determine if those last micro-second bids are genuine or if you are just being shilled up. A small thing, perhaps, but important to some and, once again, helps create a better psychological bidding environment, I think.   So, I can see some upside potential to implementing extended end times of a minute or two, but no real downside.   -- JR   ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2005 10:48 Subject: Re: [MOPO] How to Beat The Clock JR   This idea is wrong.  I have no idea why you are even considering such an idea because the internet auction is much different than a live auction.   Live auctions are publicized well in advance of the auction Live auctions take place at specific times which people are informed of,  again well ahead of the auction If a person cannot be there they can leave a proxy bid for the auction house to place for them They can arrange for someone to bid for them There is no snipe bidding as it is with a live auctioneer I can go on and on but you know what I am talking about   Internet auctions are placed by sellers at all times of day and night in different time zones. They are generally not advertised People search the internet and if they see something they want to bid on, they bid or  use a sniping program and call it a day   If you would just use the following example you will see what I am talking about.  Seller X places a poster I want on the internet auction site at midnight in California.  This means it ends at 3 am my time in New Jersey.  If you check you will see a huge number of California dealers placing posters on ebay that end in the early morning on the east coast.  Let's not even approach foreign bidders.  There is no way I am going to stay up in the wee hours of the morning watching to see when to bid and having the auctions extended on a constant basis.   Let's call a spade a spade.  There can only be one winner when the auction ends regardless of when it ends.  The current system works quite well and extending it serves absolutely no purpose except to create problems.  The person who is constantly beaten by the sniping system is the person who is obviously griping here.  The problem is not the system of sniping.  The problem is that the griper did not bid high enough.   Please leave well enough alone.  Claude Litton Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.